Reposted from: http://www.towelday.kojv.net/

You sass that hoopy Douglas Adams? Now there's a frood who knew where his towel was. You are invited to join your fellow hitch hikers in mourning the loss of the late great one. Join in on towel day to show your appreciation for the humor and insight that Douglas Adams brought to all our lives.

What do I do?

Carry your towel with you throughout the day to show your participation and mourning.

When do I do it?

May 25th.

Where do I do it?

Everywhere.

Why a towel?

To quote from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a bush, but very, very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Frequently Asked Questions

We have gotten lots and lots of emails from all over the world. Many of you seem to have similar questions.

The 25th of May has no DNA significance. Why did you pick that day to celebrate?

Towel Day was intended to be a wake. A way of showing respect for the passing of this most hoopy frood. It was first slated for one week after his death, but that didn't give us nearly enough time to get the word out. So we moved it to two weeks after his death. This question also appears in the form, "But, why not 42 days after his death?" Again, it's all about timing, 42 days is a long time in the history of the Universe, so we were concerned that the enthusiasm would vaporize like a planet in the path of a Vogon Constructor Fleet. Some people still won't give up, and ask "But, why not on Thursday, since that's when the trilogy begins? Well, we didn't think about that until the idea had already exploded across the Internet. I could never get the hang of Thursdays, anyway. If you have any other questions about why Towel Day is on May 25th, instead of (insert date here), feel free to consult your Guide.

There's an article on BBC that says the Towel Day is on the last Friday of May. Are there two Towel Days?

No. The article you read was written on May 16th 2001, while the idea of celebrating the Towel Day was in it's cradle.

It's outdated and it's wrong. The Towel Days 2001 and 2002 were celebrated on May 25th so we stick to that.

We're not saying you can't bring your towel around whenever you feel like it.

I feel we should change the date to something a bit more Guide or DNA related, like February 4th (4/2), April 2nd (4/2), February 11th (42nd day of the year), May 11th (day of his death), June 22nd (42 days after DNA passed plus Polly's birthday) or October 18th (42nd Thursday after he passed). Whaddy'a say?

Enough with the date mixture already. Here's what I want you to do. Start, Run, calc.exe. View, Advanced, then change the calculator to work with Hexadecimal (Hex) numbers. Add 25 + 5 and equalize that (Enter) - you'll get 2A, right?

Now, switch back to Decimal (Dec). Happy? We think so. :-)

Should I really carry a towel all day? It might be embarrassing!

Yes, you should really carry a towel with you all day. You might get teased or looked at weird, but then you can just hide behind your towel until the offensive people go away. (These people are mindboggingly stupid animals, they assume that if you can't see them, they can't see you - daft as a bush, but very, very ravenous)

Seriously, if you're still in school, explain to your teachers what you're doing. They'll probably appreciate the gesture to a great literary mind. In fact, tell them ahead of time. They just might surprise you by bringing a towel too. Perhaps some places of employment won't be as understanding, but give it a shot. If someone asks what you're doing with a towel, tell them to go read the book!

Can we do this again next year?

Will do. Carry your towel, or be a strag.